January 2025
New Year, New News
We are hiring!
we are hiring!
Visit the Lotus Careers webpage to see the job descriptions for the three open positions. Please help us distribute these new opportunities to your robust network!
Lotus in the news
Photo courtesy of Daniel Bayer Photography, provided by the Community Office for Resource Efficiency (CORE).
Eagle County, Colorado, a collection of mountain communities with a population of about 54.5k people has emerged as a regional leader in sustainable development and green buildings. Lotus, in partnership with Walking Mountains and the Community Office for Regional Efficiency, led a cohort of communities from Eagle, Pitkin, and Garfield counties to develop a regional roadmap to achieve the Eagle County Climate Action Plan’s ambitious goal of achieving a net-zero or all-electric building codes for new construction by 2030. Some of the Roadmap’s objectives include defining a net-zero energy code for new construction, eliminating GHG emissions from new construction, developing building code implementation plans for local governments, and helping the municipalities in the region stay aligned on their building codes. The Vail Daily published an article about the Regional Roadmap that can be found here!
Colorado Green Business Network Certification - Lotus Can Help!
What is the Colorado Green Business Network (CGBN)?
The CGBN is a program that encourages, supports, and rewards organizations that make the move toward the goal of operational sustainability. The program’s goal is to support organizations throughout Colorado at any level of implementation to increase the efficiency and sustainability of operations through assessing opportunities for growth, recognizing success, and providing connections to like-minded businesses. Organizations in Colorado can apply for CGBN recognition and other benefits such as awards and networking, by meeting sustainability requirements and criteria on a point-based reporting application. The CGBN also provides free Technical Assistance to businesses interested in recognition and learning more about how to advance sustainability in their operations. If your organization is based in Colorado, Lotus recommends setting up a meeting with the CGBN team to learn more about the program and learn about growth opportunities.
Lotus was a recognized Silver member of the CGBN in 2023 and is aiming for Gold in 2025. We understand the hard work that can go into meeting sustainability requirements, developing internal policies, and planning projects to become a more sustainable company. As part of our mission to advance climate action locally, we offer support to businesses who are interested in learning more about Lotus’ experience with the CGBN, need help reaching a higher member status, or require assistance with specific criteria they would like to meet for the certification. Lotus is able to provide support with energy, water, waste, and GHG reporting, community outreach, project planning, transportation, and more!
You can email hello@lotussustainability.com or get in touch with us through our website!
Mountain Towns 2030 Climate Solutions Summit
In October, five members of the Lotus staff traveled to Jackson Hole, Wyoming to attend and speak at the Mountain Towns 2030 Climate Solutions Summit. At the Summit, great minds in climate action gathered to discuss and think about environmental solutions for mountain communities who share similar impacts from a changing climate.
Lotus’ Kim Schlaepfer and Eagle County’s Kira Koppel co-presented on Roadmapping to “Net Zero” New Construction. Their presentation focused on multi-county collaboration and redefining net zero alignment on new construction codes, which led to the Net Zero Roadmap for Eagle-Pitkin counties. They also discussed the differences between home-rule and non-home-rule states and advancing sustainability in building codes.
If you are interested in sustainability for mountain communities, consider registering for the Mountain Towns 2030 Climate Network, a peer-to-peer platform that enables collaboration amongst local government officials, staff sustainability teams, ski resorts, local businesses, and nonprofit leaders. In this online community, there are spaces to ask questions, help others, and share ideas. More information on the Climate Network can be found here.
Project Highlights
Deer valley climate action plan
Lotus partnered with Deer Valley to develop a climate action plan for their resort operations. The Deer Valley Climate Action Plan will help the resort address their operational carbon footprint, prioritize implementation strategies, and clearly communicate their climate action commitments to their visitors and staff. Lotus’s approach walked the client through the crafting of a set of prioritization metrics through which the resort can assess its next steps: from proactively addressing climate risks to tackling critical opportunities in their infrastructure to empowering staff to solve problems.
Lotus’s expertise in adapting climate plans to fit a specific culture, environment, and circumstance shines in this resort climate action plan. The scope of work included workshops with the Senior Leadership Team, focus groups and informational interviews with staff, a site visit to meet with all resort departments, a business-as-usual emissions forecast, climate adaptation and mitigation strategies, and a designed climate action plan document.
Wheat Ridge, Colorado Climate Action Plan Update
Lotus worked with the City of Wheat Ridge to update and formally adopt their Sustainability Action Plan. The community was the impetus for the first Plan created in 2018. Lotus led the strategic analysis of the 2018 plan, which involved a comprehensive review of relevant City plans, as well as regional, state, and federal plans and initiatives. This review allowed the City to utilize existing collaborations and funding to force-multiply their sustainability efforts. Lotus also engaged City staff and key stakeholders to contextualize the 2024 plan update and identify critical opportunities. Engagement efforts also garnered community input on sustainability priorities and strategies. Lotus sought to capture the grassroots, community-driven spirit of the plan and ground the plan update in the key implementation details that City staff would champion.
Learn with us!
LOTUS EQUITY PRESENTATIONS OCCUR MONTHLY TO EXPAND OUR LEARNING AND GROWTH. BELOW ARE RESOURCES WE ARE EXCITED TO SHARE.
Equity in hiring practices
This equity presentation discussed hiring practices that help to create the most equitable outcomes for candidates, increase diversity in the workplace, and analyze cultural elements.
The IDI: A Tool for Equity Learning
As part of our mission to expand our equity learning and efforts at Lotus, we partner with Seven Focus to provide each of our team members with an Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI) and an individualized Intercultural Development Plan (IDP) with opportunities to learn, reflect, and write goals. The IDI is a tool that can provide information about one’s cultural mindset and competence, with specific focuses on cultural commonalities, differences, and growth. The IDI helps Lotus staff develop internal, company-wide equity activities that initiate dialogues, provide space for reflection, and create outlets for change.